Moving On
by Meriko-chan
Summary: After the manga ends, the travelers land in Valeria once more, and Fye finds closure for himself.


A little bit of text that I wrote as part of a description for a Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles fanart. I thought it was actually long enough to qualify as a ficlet, and so I decided to upload it here. ^^

**Warning:** Massive spoilers for Fye's past and true identity, which I believe comes up in volume 20 of the series.

If you would like to see the picture, please come to my deviantArt gallery and look for the picture named "Tower". ^^ The link to my gallery is available in my profile.

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><p>They land in Valeria, changed by time and the elements into a purely natural landscape, with not even a brick or stone to show where a country's kingseat once stood. Fye recognizes the landscape, however, and the travelers eventually make their way to the tower and valley where the accursed twins were once held captive. The magic of the place still holds sway, the tower stands tall and the bodies remain un-decayed in the valley. It is a place of silence and death.<p>

The wizard stands at the lip of the sheer wall that forms the border of the valley and stares for a while until he makes out a place at the bottom of the sheer drop where the dead are piled high, and paces along the edge until he is standing exactly over it. The exact spot that he once hoped to stand, after stacking enough bodies and snow to climb out of the valley and escape its dampening effects so that he could use his magic to free his brother and aid his countrymen.

The others stand apart, respectful of his pain even after all these years and all the events that brought him peace, sensing without being told that there is still something he needs to do. Fye casts his eyes left and right as if looking for something, but the sense he is using is not sight. Soon, the expatriate raises his hands and without a word, begins sharply weaving rune after rune into existence with quick flicks of elegant fingers and sends ribbons of magic flying away from him in great swirls.

The thing he is pitting his strength against is invisible to everyone else, but they all sense it when the power of the valley finally succumbs to Fye's spellcasting. A shockwave suddenly blows them all back, sending even Kurogane staggering a few steps, and when they blink their eyes open again after having closed them against the blast of air and magic and flying snow, nothing looks different at first.

But then a single stone falls from the spire rising from the great abyss, and they realize that the eternal tower and valley are eternal no longer.

As if that falling stone was a signal, Fye begins to work in earnest. The bodies of the justly punished and unjustly murdered are all consumed in phoenix-fire, and the valley that was once filled with ice and death roars with vibrant flames that reach more than halfway to the wizard who called them into being. Twilight gives way to night, but the area is lit bright with flame as if it is still sunset. The heat whips the princeling's hair and clothing wildly around him, the ribbon from his ponytail lost in the initial blast and his cloak snapping and cracking in the magical wind like sails or wings as he continues working at the task he has set himself.

Once his countrymen are reduced to ash - mothers and murderers, innocent children and insane grandfather now all identical flakes of grey and black - Fye attacks the tower. His brother is no longer captive there but he cannot abide the structure standing so tall and perfect any longer, and sends scythe-like blades of energy at the top of it over and over until the prison cell lies open to the night sky.

The blonde collapses against the edge of the canyon then, breathing hard and sweating from his exertions, and his companions finally step forward to support him. Strong hands help him up but he twists free of them when one of them tries to lead him away.

_Not yet._

A flick of the wrist, and a magical air current is ready to transport him to the ruined tower. He steps forward onto thin air but there is a quick grasp of his elbow, and he hurriedly expands the moving platform to include one passenger. He should have known Kurogane would insist on accompanying him.

Fye steps lightly and noiselessly down onto charred stone a moment later, followed immediately by an equally silent ninja, and walks toward the few window bars that remain upright. It is the one place he knew the other condemned twin had spent the most time, grasping the bars in tiny hands, chubby at first and then wasting away through the years into skeletal claws. In a final defiance of his grandfather's edict, Fye feels he must stand in the tower where his twin spent his imprisonment alone. His brother is no more, but Fye - _no, Yuui, it was time to shed the borrowed name_ - needs to stand where he stood, in a final gesture of defiance and a new symbol of overcoming challenges.

_You cannot keep us apart._

Stars twinkle overhead and through the ruined bars and the blonde wonders what the view was like when the tower was whole. Had his brother ever been able to lose himself in a daydream and enjoy the sight of stars, or had everything been colored over with despair? He can imagine the pain and loss and fear and just everything, everything. Before he knows it he's hunched over at the window, holding onto a bar for support as sorrow crushes him, just like his twin must have done all those years ago. But unlike his twin, he has someone there with him, and strength is lent to him when his own runs out. He is back on his feet before he can fall to his knees, and the breath in his lungs comes out as a whisper of gratitude instead of a sob of unbearable agony.

He steadies himself and turns, face grim but dry, and lets red eyes study him for a long moment, their look cool and assessing.

"Are you ready?" comes the question, and he lets go of the metal bar and nods.

"Yes," Yuui says quietly but firmly, and takes a step away from the window. "Let's move on."


End file.
